Document: getSelection() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since March 2017.

The getSelection() method of the Document interface returns the Selection object associated with this document, representing the range of text selected by the user, or the current position of the caret.

Syntax

js
getSelection()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A Selection object, or null if the document has no browsing context (for example, it is the document of an <iframe> that is not attached to a document).

Examples

Getting a Selection object

js
const selection = document.getSelection();
const selRange = selection.getRangeAt(0);
// do stuff with the range

console.log(selection); // Selection object

String representation of the Selection object

Some functions (like Window.alert()) call toString() automatically and the returned value is passed to the function. As a consequence, this will return the selected text and not the Selection object:

js
alert(selection);

However, not all functions call toString() automatically. To use a Selection object as a string, call its toString() method directly:

js
let selectedText = selection.toString();

You can call Window.getSelection(), which is identical to window.document.getSelection().

It is worth noting that currently getSelection() doesn't work on the content of <input> elements in Firefox. HTMLInputElement.setSelectionRange()) could be used to work around this.

Notice also the difference between selection and focus. Document.activeElement returns the focused element.

Specifications

Specification
Selection API
# dom-document-getselection

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
getSelection

Legend

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Full support
Full support
Partial support
Partial support
Has more compatibility info.